Hidden
by hiya24
Summary: Ghost in a house... NaruxMai... has a plot now, ghost trying to get Mai, but not the usual. In reality, just making Naru realize he's a teenager with hormones.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

A/N: All during my Lin/Mai fic I kept wanting to do a Naru/Mai fic, so here it is. I rated it M for later chapters, I decided to move this slowly. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: It would have a higher rating if I owned it; also I wouldn't have to have student loans.

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Mai lay on the couch, sound asleep. It had been a boring day at SPR, and she had already done all her chores. Thus she decided to work on homework, which her head was now lying on top of. Her check was plastered against the page of her text, as her hand gripped her pencil; it seemed that the girl was frustrated by something even in her sleep.

Lin watched her for a moment, smiling to himself at how this mere girl was able to break down walls that had been carefully constructed around a certain heart; even if that heart had yet to realize it. He gently placed a blanket over the sleeping girl before he left the office. If he had let Naru know that she was sleeping the chances were good that the arrogant young man would wake her, and Lin knew that it would not be a pretty sight in the end. Thus, he quietly left after letting Naru know and making sure Mai would not get cold.

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Naru was tired, tired and thirsty. It had been a long day of nothing but research and now he wanted nothing more than a nice cup of tea and a nap. Yes he definitely wanted a nap, some may not believe it but he does have to stop reading books and computers for awhile and sleep some of the time. More than once he had thought of how much easier life would be without the bodily need for sleep, but to not care for one's body was not an option because it would lead to lack in judgment and bad decisions.

Sighing to himself, Naru left his office and make himself some tea. Mai should have left a few hours ago and Lin was not around, thus he was forced to make his own tea. At least he could make it better than Lin; there is always an upside to things. He stopped himself from continuing that train of thought as it reminded him much too much of his cute little assistant… where'd '_cute_' come from?

After he made his tea, and had a few sips on his way back to his office, he heard a slight rustle and the sound of something dropping. This was odd, no one else was supposed to be in the office right now… right? Setting his tea down, Naru went back into the waiting/interview area to find… Mai sleeping on the couch. Seeing her still at the office at this hour of the night made Naru frown to himself, she was supposed to be home by now. Looking at the clock he quickly realized that most of the trains and buses would have stopped running by now and Lin had the van. He then decided to let her sleep (his own lack of sleep must have started to get to him) and wake her once Lin and himself were ready to go so they could take her home on their way.

Once he had made his decision, he started to turn back to his office only to notice that the sound which had alerted him to Mai's presence had been a blanket that had fallen off her. He just knew that if she did not stay covered she would get sick, and then miss a few days of work when she had finally caught up just that day. And once again, his lack of sleep got to him as he actually walked around the couch to retrieve the blanket.

Holding the blanket in his hands, he stood over her and watched her deep breathing. He had never really watched her that closely in sleep, though the times when he had seen her sleeping had usually occurred because of something hitting her head and knocking her out. Even so, he watched as she fidgeted in her sleep, her expression just as readable as when she was awake. He had a feeling that at that moment she was dreaming either of getting him tea, with no please or thank you, or she was dreaming of the geometry that she had fallen asleep on. Whichever one it was she was most definitely annoyed, as her eyebrow twitched in that adorable way that it would whenever she waited for him to say thank you.

Naru looked at her hands, as the pencil she was gripping was about to break, and his gaze traveled down her to her hiked-up skirt. Now he had always wondered why she never wore pants to work, but always skirts. Mind you, he was not complaining, as they were always cute and… well short, but pants just seemed more practical; though who was he to talk about practical fashion with her considering his wardrobe consisted of mostly black at the moment, and even in summer.

Continuing his inspection of her he observed her legs, though the hiked-up short skirt made that rather easy. Looking at her clear and creamy skin he started to wonder what it felt like, and before he knew it his hand had moved of its own accord as it touched her calf. It startled him, but instead of pulling away (he really needed to get more sleep) he began to lightly skim his hand up to her knee. She shifted slightly, causing him to look at her only to see her closed eyes with a slight smile on her lips. Rubbing his thumb in circles on the topside of her knee, his fingers stroked the backside of it. He was awe struck since he had not imagined that her skin could feel this soft.

After a few moments, his hand moved up her leg to her thigh with his thumb still on top and his fingers on the inside of her thigh. He was still rubbing her skin, as he felt little electrical shocks going through himself at the touch of her. Moving his thumb a little higher, he suddenly realized that her skin felt cold where he was not rubbing it. This made him remember the blanket he was still holding in his other hand.

Withdrawing his hand from Mai's thigh, Naru quickly placed the blanket over her so that she was covered and warm. Looking down on her he figured that a textbook as a pillow would only be annoying, and thus he gently removed said annoyance. As he did so her breath landed on his hand, causing more little electrical shocks to run up his arm and into his body. Quickly placing the book on the table, Naru went (cough ran cough) back to his office. Once he was safe behind his door, Naru though once again of how lack of sleep affected the brain.

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Lin had not expected to be at that meeting for that long, Madako really knew how to play him. Naru was going to be pissed at getting home so late. Arriving back at the office well past the time he wanted to. Lin was slightly surprised to see Mai still sound asleep on the couch.

"Mai, Mai." He whispered as he gently shook the sleeping girl.

"Ugh, Lin-san? What are you doing here?" She replied, still half asleep.

"Considering the fact that you are asleep on the office couch, shouldn't it be the other way around?"

Mai bolted up, narrowly missing Lin's chin on the way, and in a panic looked around the room. It took a moment for her to realize the time and with a groan she looked up at the tall man.

"I suppose Naru is still here?" She asked with hope in her eyes that he was not.

Lin chuckled, "I do believe he is, also I believe that you have missed the last train." This drew a panicked look. "But don't worry, we'll give you a ride home." He reassured with a smile.

Mai breathed a slight sigh of relief, she did not have to walk home in the dark. However, Naru would know that she fell asleep on the couch and she just knew he would tease her about it.

_'Think of the devil!'_ Mai thought to herself as Naru exited his office.

Looking at Lin Naru gave the man a nod, and glancing at Mai he said, "Get your things together. I'd like to leave before too much longer and actually get some sleep tonight, since unlike some people I prefer to sleep in my bed."

Mai growled as she quickly picked up her belongings and stuffed them into her bag. Once she was done they locked up the office and left.

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A/N: Not too sure I like the way I ended this chapter (too abrupt, but couldn't think of anything else). If you have ideas of how I could improve this please let me know. Oh, I will update it too, just not too certain of how often that will be, I have papers, midterms and a conference coming up… If you review I know that I'll update faster (also if I get more headaches). Smiles


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

A/N: Really didn't expect myself to update this quickly, but you all loved it so much I couldn't really help it… and I really didn't want to do my chemistry homework. I had fun writing this, enjoy and a slight warning for mature content

Disclaimer: How many times do I have to say I don't own???

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Naru looked out his office door to watch Mai making his tea. It was not long before she was standing in front of him and placing a hot cup of tea on his desk. As per usual, she stood there for a moment waiting for him to say 'thank you'. While she stood there Naru noticed that her skirt looked shorter than usual, though he knew that she could not see him looking at her legs.

After a minute she started to growl, to which he raised an eyebrow. Just as she was about to walk out his door he said,

"Mai, come here for a moment."

She blinked at him, and then returned to standing in front of his desk.

"What?" She bit out.

"I said come here, where you are currently standing is not here." Naru replied, sounding as calm and authoritive as ever.

Mai blinked again and walked to stand in front of her demanding boss. He pulled her into his lap, she squeaked at the contact. Once he had her situated so that she was sitting in his lap, he started to feel her neck as he turned her face towards his own and captured her lips. She tasted like tea and honey, with a splash of lemon and her lips were soft and yielding.

Naru placed his hand on her breast, causing her to moan. He took the opportunity to explore her month with his tongue. It took her all of two seconds before she started to fight him for control of the kiss. His hands started to travel her small and pliable body as her hands went behind his neck for support.

Keeping one of his hands on her breast, the other started to travel up her skirt. It was not long before he was stroking her and she was making small noises in his mouth that set him on fire. Pulling her panties off, he turned her so that she was straddling him on his chair. She looked at him while she quickly undid his pants to release his throbbing erection. Once he was free, he pulled and guided her onto himself. Naru never knew that anything could feel as good as Mai. Settling in her, they quickly began a rhythm.

Hearing Mai's panting in his ear, he groaned her name. His hands were cupping her ass as he pushed and pulled her onto himself. After a few more minutes of pleasure, he felt himself orgasm into her. As he started to pull her into another kiss, his door was pounded on.

"Naru, it's time to get up or we'll be late getting into the office." Lin yelled through his bedroom door.

Naru groaned as he looked at his clock, '_What was up with that dream_?' He thought to himself as he started to get up. Looking at his bed another thought occurred to him, '_Great, now I have to change my sheet, and I don't want Lin to do the laundry and find that. This is all Mai's fault._' Quickly cleaning up the mess he made, Naru went to take his shower.

Under the warm water of the shower, he began to remember how Mai had felt in his dream as well as how she had felt in real life. It was not long before his hand had touched another part of his anatomy and he was panting in the shower.

The ride to the office with Lin, Naru still could not get the images and touches out of his mind, even if most of them were not real. In the office was even worse, since all he had to do was look at anything and his dream came right back to the surface. Naru felt as if he was going insane, he decided that the next case to walk through the door he was going to take just to get his mind off of Mai.

Before long the girl of his frustrations appeared, asking if he wanted tea. Naru really could have just grabbed her and made his dream a reality at that point. While she was getting the tea ready, someone came into the office. Naru could not have been happier, though he'd never show it.

"John, how are you today?" He greeted the unexpected priest. Said priest eyed him for a moment, Naru never came out of his office to greet people.

"Hello Naru, I am well. This is a parishioner from a neighboring church who recently moved into a home and has been experiencing some odd incidents that we have not been able to figure out… So I thought I'd ask if you would like to help out." John replied with a slightly suspicions smile as he indicated a man standing behind himself.

Naru looked at the man and then back at John, waiting for the introduction. It took a beat and then John realized his mistake.

"Oh, I'm sorry, this is Daichi Yuki, his is from Father Toujou's church. Daichi-san, this is Shibuya Kazuya, the president of SPR." John quickly said.

"Please come and sit, my assistant will have some tea ready shortly." Naru said as he made his way to his favorite chair.

As the three men sat, Mai came into the room carrying the tray with teapot and five cups. Naru just knew that the girl would have eavesdropped and known how much tea to make. As she put the tray down and began to serve everyone he noted how her skirt would ride-up slightly as she bent to hand the tea to the other two men. When she came towards him he also thought about how if she did that when giving him his tea that the other men would see. Thus as she started to hand him his tea, his hand reached up and took it without allowing her to bend at all.

"Please get Lin." Naru then asked Mai, and he wondered about her surprised look for all of two seconds.

Turning back to his client, since he had decided that he would take this case no matter what (especially with the thoughts that had run through his mind watching Mai serve tea); he got back to the matter at hand.

"So Daichi-san, what incidents have happened that make you believe your house is haunted?" Naru started off straight to the point.

"Well Shibuya-san, we moved in about three months ago to our… well manor, and we were very happy"

"Who is 'we'?" Naru interrupted slightly.

"My wife, two daughters, the eldest is married so her husband and child are also with us as well as my sister. So at first everything was fine, a few weird noises but we chalked it up to an old house. About a month after we had moved, objects started to go missing and then turn-up in the oddest places. This we figured was due to forgetfulness and pranks played by the children, though all the children denied it. Then doors were closing on their own and furniture was suddenly moved. Last week, my sister fell down the stairs, but she says that she felt a hand on her shoulder before the fall. And my wife saw a figure in the hallway, she thought it was another one of the family but when she chased it, it went through a wall." Daichi-san paused for a minute, Mai's eyes were wide and Naru was happy that this case actually looked interesting enough for him to focus on.

"Daichi-san, have you been able to look into the history of the house?" Naru asked in his usual business manner as he rejoiced on the inside.

"I have not since it had been uninhabited for about fifty years before I came across it." Daichi-san explained.

Naru looked at the client and John before saying, "This sounds like an interesting case, I think we'll help out." Mai went starry eyed as she always did whenever they took a new case, that girl just wanted to help people and nothing more.

"Thank you Shibuya-san. When will you come out and what do you need?" Daichi said with a bit of relief in his voice.

"I think we will start our investigation here, and look at the property's background… so I think we can be out by tomorrow and the time would depend on where you are at. We will need a baseroom for our operations and if need be a few rooms to stay in." Naru answered.

"Tomorrow sounds great, it will take about three hours to drive there from here and a baseroom is not a problem, nor is putting you up for a few days." Daichi said.

"Well now that that's settled, how about we go so that Naru can start his research and you can get a chance to set-up?" John suggested.

Everyone said their goodbyes, and John left with Daichi while Mai, Lin and Naru went back to work. Naru would have grinned to himself for finding such an interesting case just when he needed one; though he did not think about the old adage of 'Be careful what you wish for…'

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A/N: I am sadistic to Naru in this one, and I enjoyed doing that thoroughly. Hope you liked it, and apparently if you review I update faster… interesting


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

A/N: This story is starting to revival 'Unwanted Feelings' for popularity… guess there are more Naru/Mai fans here than Lin/Mai… though I am still going to write other pairings just to spice things up. Part of the idea for this chapter came from PrincessSerene15. Enjoy

Disclaimer: Why must you think there is even the possibility that I own anything besides my skin? Actually I don't even know if I own that.

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It was late at SPR, after John and Daichi had left Naru and Lin had locked themselves in their offices researching the case. Mai was sitting her desk trying to file what Naru had just piled there. After a few minutes of organizing the pile she sighed to herself.

"I really want to go home and pack… guess once I'm done with this I can." Mai mumbled to herself.

While systematically putting files away may be captivating to some, to Mai it was just boring and tiring. Thus, after about an hour of it she decided to take a break and look at her homework. She really should have known better, since her homework _always_ puts her to sleep. So after about ten minutes, her head was laying on top of her text while she sat at her desk.

In her dream, she was asleep, but on the couch and not on her desk. There was a blanket over top of her that she was in the middle of kicking off. "_Who would have put a blanket on me?_" She wondered in her sleep.

As she slept she felt a presence come near her and after a moment he moved the blanket. Mai could feel him looking at her and she just knew it was Naru, but why she was dreaming of him and not talking with him she had yet to figure out. Then she felt his fingers touching her leg, she wanted to gasp in surprise but was unable to since she was asleep. However, she did feel herself smile, though she really wondered why.

Mai felt his fingers rubbing against her skin; it made her feel on fire as he traveled from her calf to her knee. When he slipped his fingers beneath her leg and kept stroking and rubbing her leg Mai felt her heartbeat speed up. Naru continued to rub her leg making it up to her thigh when he stopped. She wanted to open her eyes and replace his hand as he withdrew it and then put the blanket over her.

Naru was walking away from her in the dream when she felt someone shaking her awake.

"Mai, Mai, if you don't go soon you won't have much time to get ready for tomorrow." Lin said gently as he woke her up.

Mai snapped her head up and red filled her face as she tried to calm her heart rate down. Looking at her very red face Lin asked,

"Are you ok?" More red flooded her face as she thought,

"_Did I just have a perverted dream? Was Naru really in that dream? Oh my… Did I really just dream that?"_

Lin was really starting to worry as Mai's face continued to redden and her heart rate appeared to speed up, also she had yet to say one word.

"Did you have a bad dream?" He asked rather innocently.

"WHAT?! Whatever would give you that idea?" Mai asked as she tried to play it down and failed miserably.

"?... You should go home before the last train leaves." Lin decided that whatever it was must not be involved with the paranormal or her reaction would have been a little different… He did not realize that she had just had a post-cognitive dream or his reaction would have been a very different, especially considering the content of said dream.

"Thank you Lin-san, I will get going then. Naru may have a fit at me tomorrow for not finishing this but I really need some sleep." Mai said as her face started to return to its normal color.

"Alright then, goodnight Mai."

"Night Lin"

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The next day saw Lin, Naru and Mai loading into the SPR van and getting ready to head out. Bou-san had been called the night before and was meeting them at the manor with Ayako, who had happened to be at Takigawa's house when they called him.

As they pulled out of the parking lot, Mai could not help but think that Naru seemed more… aggravating than usual. Little did she know that he had dreamt another dream with her as the starring role, thus he was not happy.

On the road to the manor the van was rather quiet, Mai had brought music to listen to and was sleeping in the back while Lin drove and Naru simply did not want to talk.

After awhile Naru climbed into the back seat with Mai still asleep. He carefully slid his hand up her leg to just below her skirt. Lin was looking at the road as Naru leant in to Mai and gently kissed her lips and they went over a bump waking Naru from yet another dream.

He shook his head to clear it as he realized he had a slight problem. There was no way that Lin and possibly even Mai could miss the problem that he had at moment if he was standing, lucky him that he was sitting. However, there was also no way for him to alleviate the problem; thus he was going to have to make it go away.

'_Just how am I supposed to make__ it go soft right now?_' Naru thought to himself. He then looked over at Lin and felt a great reduction in density. '_Oh… so all I have to do is look at someone I don't find unbelievably attractive… I can do that._'

By the time they arrived at the manor Lin was feeling slightly uncomfortable with the number of times Naru had glanced in his direction. Driving up the long, gravel filled road they came to a round-about with the house situated so that one would drive up to it with a fountain and garden in the center of the circle. The fountain was made from stone and had a woman pouring water from a bucket with children at her feet also pouring water through their hands. The water base of the fountain had koi fish and water lilies to cover its surface. Mai was out of the van in a flash, practically running to the statue and looking at the fish. Once she was done admiring the fountain she turned to see the house.

Now there are some houses that look nice even though they are old. This one looked as though it had never had a day of mistreatment, even though no one had inhabited it for fifty years and Daichi had only recently moved in with his family. It had three stories and Mai counted seven windows across the top, one in the middle with three on each side. It was made of brick, despite the fact that brick was not that common during the era the house was built. The front door almost reached the second story.

Mai was standing there with her mouth open when Naru noticed it and started to wonder what her tongue felt like.

"Mai stop trying to catch flies and let's go." Naru said to hide his desire. Mai faintly growled at him as they made their way up the steps to the unknown.

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A/N: Ok, so that was a little short, but I'm tired. Hope you still liked it, will be getting into more of the actual plot (possibly more smut too) soon (hehehe, Naru still gets the worst of it, I'm evil to him). Please review since they do cause me to update faster and give me good ideas to go with, smiles.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

A/N: This one was a bit boring for me to write, but it was necessary and I think it reads alright I just didn't want to write it… also I was panicking about overdue papers, oops. I realized that I had been extremely rude to my reviewers by not mentioning the fact that I appreciate your reviews in my story, I know that I say that in every reply I send because I do really appreciate the reviews, but now I'm saying it again: Thank you to all my reviewers who inspire me to continue with this story, this is for you.

Disclaimer: If I owned I would have stocks in Microsoft too, sadly I have neither… However, the plot line and the original characters are mine although I only seem to enjoy torturing Naru…

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Thump, thump, thump, thump, bam.

"Mai!" Naru, Lin, Bou-san, Ayako, and John yelled in surprised unison.

"Ow, that hurt." The girl in question responded.

Mai quickly got up and brushed herself off as she surveyed her torn clothes and bruises. Ayako went down the steps to make sure Mai was not seriously hurt.

"I'm ok, just a few new bruises." Mai said to relieve the worried looks she was receiving.

"If you learned not to gape and watched your footing you wouldn't have to wear those bruises." Naru replied to which Mai glared at him. She was unaware of the fact that he was not happy about her creamy white skin bearing the brunt of the fall instead of her clothes. Nor did she notice the way that he evaluated her torn clothes… wishing that they had torn in a few different places offering him a better view of…

"I wasn't gaping; I just slipped on the water…" Mai trailed off realizing that there was no water on the steps.

"Nice try to cover, but considering that it has not rained for about two days out here it's not going to work." Naru said rather sarcastically.

"But there was water, and I wasn't expecting there to be water and that's why I slipped." Mai whined.

"Did you see the water or just feel it?" Bou-san asked.

"Just slipped on something that felt like a wet step…"

Everyone looked at her a little oddly as they all thought it was weird, but none thought she was lying.

"Well this time I'll walk back up with you so that you stay standing." Ayako said as she pulled Mai back up the steps to the front door.

In the manor, Daichi was waiting for them with his family assembled to greet and help the team set-up.

"Ah, Shibuya-san, it is very good to see you. This is my family… my wife Akito," he indicated a tall woman with dark hair and eyes. "My eldest daughter Haruhi with her husband Ichigo and their son Ryo." Daichi said as the slim woman holding a child of about three and the man standing beside her bowed. "My youngest daughter Yuuki and my sister Rin." Both girls bowed. Naru introduced himself, Mai, Lin, Bou-san and Ayako to the family.

"It is nice to meet you all." Akito greeted, "Would you like to get set-up now?"

She led them into a room that was just off of the main entry way. It was large, but not to the point of being overbearing like the rest of the house felt. Naru did the usual of having Mai set-up the shelves while he, Lin and Bou-san unloaded the van and had Ayako go with John to look the place over.

"Does Shibuya-san always treat others so… coolly?" Akito asked Mai good naturedly.

"Yep, I've almost given him a black eye a few times because of that." Mai replied with a bit of a smile, Akito responded with a warm laugh.

"Did you need any help setting this up?" Akito asked indicating the shelves.

"No, thank you."

"Ok then, I'll go get something for everyone to eat and make sure that the girls have your rooms ready." Akito smiled as she left Mai alone in the room.

After Mai was done setting up and Naru, Lin, and Bou-san had emptied the van of its contents Akito asked them all to join her in the kitchen. In the large kitchen, Mai was gaping once again. There was a long island that ran most of the length of the kitchen that was piled with many types of food. At one end there was a large table set for over a dozen people with Ayako, John and most of the Daichi family seated and waiting for the others.

"Mai if all you are going to do is catch flies, why are you here?" Naru asked sarcastically as once again he hid his desire for the girl.

Mai snapped her mouth shut, as did Bou-san. Akito shared a humored smile with her husband before offering seats to those still standing.

Over lunch Mai noticed how much Haruhi looked like her mother, tall slim build with dark eyes and hair; both wore their hair long. Yuuki had her father's coloring, brown hair and light eyes, but her mother's build. Rin was very different, the girl had light brown hair with dark brown eyes and a small petite build, she was only Mai's height and from behind they could possibly be mistaken for one another. Ichigo had dark hair and light eyes; and although he was only about Naru's height he seemed to fill the room with his presence.

"So Rin-san and you are siblings Daichi-san?" Naru asked as he was also evaluating the family.

"Yes, my father remarried after my mother passed away so Rin is my half-sister. I am caring for her since my father passed shortly after her birth and her mother wanted to remarry… I am very happy to have her for a sister." Daichi said as he relived what seemed to be a painful moment.

"… I will have some more equipment to set up after this and then I would like to interview each family member." Naru continued with business.

"I am certain that we can comply with your wishes." Akito replied.

Naru then happened to glance at Mai as she fell out of her chair while trying to kick Takigawa under the table. She was in a skirt of course and just happened to fall in such a manner to give most everyone a view of her panties. Naru did not know if he should grab her and scold her for doing that or kiss her or… die from embarrassment as she seemed to be doing at the moment. After everyone paused a moment, they all just started to laugh, excluding Naru and Lin, with some even having tears come out of their eyes while they tried to stop. Mai got up off the floor and gave a bow, to which everyone clapped.

Naru looked at Mai after her bow as her blush deepened making her look even cuter. He really wondered what kind of face she would make if any of his recent dreams became reality…

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"That stupid narcissistic man!" Mai yelled as she punctuated her words by slamming her door shut.

One may wonder at the reason for her anger, although when one considers whom she is angry at a quick and decisive conclusion can be met: Naru pissed her off. The manner in which he would have done this would be by either: A) doubting her ability to think; B) calling her stupid; C) not saying please or thank you; D) telling her to do something that she really did not want to do (like manual labor); or E) all of the above. As it happens he had chosen E.

As Mai fumed in her room to which she had been sent to 'gather information' (ie 'sleep and dream or can you not understand the meaning of the words we need you to try to find information for us' as quoted from the object of her frustration); the others were conducting the interviews of the family.

"Akito-san, I understand that you saw something a few days ago?" Naru started the interview off right away getting to the heart of his questions, as per his normal routine.

"Ah, yes I did Shibuya-san…" Akito started,"I was in my room which is the top floor northeast corner room when I looked into the hallway and thought I saw someone standing there. I called out because I could not tell who it was; though I thought it looked like a man I was unable to distinguish any physical features… When I had called out it turned toward me but then ran from me. I tried to follow it, we always follow each other around here since we are family and if someone is running from you it usually means that you did something to hurt that person's feelings and it is best to make-up. Anyways, as I tried to follow it went to the west end of the hall and just went through the wall at the end… I haven't seen anything like it before or since." She finished.

"Have you witnessed any other strange occurrences?" Naru continued his questioning.

"Every so often I could swear I hear someone singing a lullaby."

"Does your daughter not sing to your grandson?" Naru reasoned.

"No, she has an awful singing voice and if she ever tried we would all conspire to make her lose it for days on end. We've already threatened her with that so she knows better than to try." Akito said with a bit of a smile at the last part.

"But the voice that I hear is sweet and clear, though I can only hear it in a whisper. It is interesting that I only realized I heard it when Ryo was crying one night and I was trying to comfort him while Haruhi was sick, it seemed that the voice was helping him fall asleep. When I asked Haruhi about it she also said that she could hear the voice but had thought it was her imagination." Akito elaborated on her story.

"For other things I have experienced it would be mainly just finding things that I had been looking for in the oddest places. I could not find my toothbrush for three days and had bought a new one when I found the old one in the pantry's top shelf. I am constantly finding the girls' clothes all over the house, especially in the basement even though both girls are scared of the basement and refuse to go down there…" She trailed off as Naru simply pondered the information.

"Thank you for your time Akito-san, I would like to speak with anyone else that would be available now." Naru said as he excused her from the room.

"No, thank you for coming here to try and figure out our situation." Akito replied, "But you're welcome for lunch." She added as she left the room to a slightly shocked Naru and Lin, she had corrected him about his manners and done it in such a way as to not allow him to be angry. If Naru had been Mai he would have growled, but as it was he did not see the slightly amused smile Akito held as she went to retrieve the next victim.

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A/N: A kinda sucky place to end it, but I really couldn't think of much else and I wanted to post this because when I get reviews I get ideas for it, even when it's just a "Good Job" or "Keep it up"… so review please and it will probably help get the next chapter out '-'


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

A/N: So I was at a conference in Oregon called the Murdock something or other, it was cool and we called it the geek conference. I was presenting on my flies and had done up a poster with another girl and we stayed in a really swanky hotel. Thus I was unable to update for awhile, but this one is kinda long so enjoy.

Disclaimer: If I owned it I would not be cramming for an exam (that is tomorrow) right now.

:-:-:-:

_Walking along the hallway on the top floor of the house Mia tried to figure out why she was there._

_'Wasn't I just with Naru setting up a camera?' She thought to herself. 'Ah, I must be dreaming.' She remembered._

_Looking around herself she saw him walking towards her, her dream Naru._

_"Naru!"__ She called out._

_"Mai."__ He replied._

_For some reason Mai was reminded of the last dream she had, not exactly the most appropriate of dreams either which caused her to turn bright red. Dream Naru raised a brow at her which caused her to redden even more._

_"Is there something wrong?" He asked, curious as to why he was causing the most interesting reaction._

_"N-N-NO!__ Why would there be anything wrong?" She replied._

_"You are turning redder than a tomato, and though it is cute it makes me wonder why." He replied with a smile._

_"Do you know of all my dreams?" She asked._

_"… __If I do?"_

_"Then you know why."_

_"Oh… I don't get to see all your dreams, but I know that I wish I could now. But no worries Mai, you're here to find out what's going on, right?" Dream Naru put her at ease with his statement and with the fact that he was not prying. She nodded an affirmative as they turned._

_The house looked very __different;__ in fact it was not the same house. There was much of the same layout, but the building materials looked different and the wall colors were different with a style that Mai thought was out-dated or maybe antique. She could see a man playing with a small girl as a woman made noise in another room, from what Mai could see it was a small family with the mother making __dinner while the father and daughter played. It made a happy scene, and made Mai's heart want to break as she thought that her own home must have looked like that at one point in time._

_The scene before her changed as the little girl was growing up, she became ten and Mai saw the birthday party. Fourteen, Mai saw the boys courting her, coming in clothes that Mai knew were out-dated. Sixteen, Mai saw the candles on the cake as __the girl was blowing them out__ with her parents standing beside her and her friends cheered. Then Mai felt searing heat, the people in her dream were screaming and she watched as they melted. The father was pulling people out of the house, how the man was able to stand in the heat was beyond Mai, but he did it. He pulled one after another out as Mai watched other people come to help him. He pulled out his daughter and wife, Mai followed him outside as he tried to revive the women, but to no avail. __His hands and face were burnt, but the women were not touched by the fire. Mai was sobbing as the man also cried, calling out to them to wake-up._

_Dream Naru, pulled Mai against himself as she continued to cry. He just held her, and stroked her back to calm her down._

_"This is the past Mai, there is nothing to do." He said in comfort._

_"I know, but it's so sad to lose someone you love. I don't know if I could ever live through something like that again, and to watch is just as bad." Mai cried into his shirt._

_"You should leave this place." He said._

_"What? Why? If it's just because it's dangerous don't you even think that I'll leave you alone here." Mai said determinedly._

_"I don't think anyone else would really be in danger Mai, but I would like you to go home. Please." He said in a soft voice._

_"Will you let me in real life? I don't think so. Besides, what's so scary that even the real you can't handle it?" Mai countered._

_"It would target you because you are a lot like her." He pointed to the dead girl lying on the ground._

_"I think you are being over-protective, though you never would in real life. I know the spells and chants so I think I'll be fine." Mai said. "Anyways, I don't want to leave your side."_

_Dream Naru smiled, "You really make my life more difficult… alright I won't pester you about it this time, but if you die I'm not going to be happy. __Tell the real Naru about the fact that this thing may target you and if he sends you home do not argue. Ok?"_

_"Ok… I'm waking up so I'll see you next time, right?"_

_"Of course, I'll always be waiting." Dream Naru smiled at Mai as they faded into the nothingness._

Blinking a few times, Mai felt the tears she had shed during the dream still on her checks. Running her hand over her face, she got up and left her room to find her frustrating and narcissistic boss. Walking to the stairs she felt a breath on the back of her neck. Jumping around, Mai fell down the stairs looking at the transparent woman standing at the top of the stairs. Mai thought it interesting that the woman looked horrified considering that she was the cause of Mai's fall. Though when Mai's arm hit the banister all other thought, except the pain, left her mind.

Back in the base Naru, Lin, and Bou-san ran out to the hallway after hearing a scream, only to see Mai falling down the stairs. Naru did not even think as he ran to her and threw his body under her to save her the fall. Once all bodies had stopped the pull of gravity, either by landing on another body or meeting the floor, Mai whimpered as she held her left arm in her hand.

"How badly did you hurt yourself?" Bou-san asked the injured girl

"I don't know, but it hurts to move." She replied.

"Well I hope you can move soon, this is a rather uncomfortable position. But don't you dare jump up and injure yourself more." Naru said from underneath Mai.

Lin walked over and knelt before her to examine her arm as Ayako and John ran in from another part of the house.

"I think it's just a sprain with a bad bruise." Lin said after looking it over for a moment. Ayako agreed after she did a check as well. They made a make-shift split and got her off of Naru, who had actually started to really like the position but thought that Mai's health was more important.

Back in the base, Mai was made to lie down and rest; though she did tell Naru of her dream and of the woman at the top of the stairs, but she had left out the part of the possibility that she might be targeted by whatever was around. Once Mai was comfortably asleep everyone left the base excluding Lin and a certain dark haired boy.

Lin listened to his young associate as the young man watched the sleeping girl while pretending to read. Lin had to wonder if Naru thought he was fooling anyone besides himself since Lin could hear Naru jerk his eyes back to the paperwork only to wander back to the sleeping Mai. If Lin was not so busy typing away at his own work he would have been smirking at Naru, which Naru hated.

Let's take a trip into Naru's mind… '_Ok, so for the last fifty years no one has lived in this house. I'll have to get __Yasuhara__ to look into the owners from before then and I'll let him know that they won't be easy to find… Mai has really cute expressions when she's asleep. Stop right there! I c__annot allow my hormones to win __while I'm awake. Ok, so back to finding the owners. I'll have __Yasuhara__ look in the library at Tokyo to see if the register __h__as anything listed and Lin can check out the library here… I wonder what Mai's l__ips actually feel like…__ are they soft and supple or are they demanding? Probably demanding considering how angry she can get.__ Shit. I have to focus. But then again when she fell earlier and her skirt flipped…_'

Thus, Naru continued with his inner battle between his… libido and intellect.

After a few hours of this (with Naru about to go nuts), Aktio came into the base and informed those awake that dinner was ready. Naru was too distracted to notice that Lin did not allow Mai to be woken, instead he suggested they let her sleep and then they could save her some food. Akito liked the idea and Naru was not even asked for input. Thus Mai was left sleeping in the base as everyone else went to dinner.

Mai opened her eyes a few minutes after this, feeling the loss of the others' presence. She looked around the room and realized that she could see her own breath. The lights were still on so she was not very afraid, but she knew that it was dangerous, especially when she remembered dream Naru's warning. Trying to not panic, which she did on a fairly regular basis, Mai slowly made her way to the door; opening it she started to leave the room. Once she was out of the room, whatever was in there knew she had left and started to move towards her. Mai panicked, big surprise, and ran away from the thing that was following her. She ran towards the front door and went to fling it open only to feel herself falling, followed by the blackness of unconsciousness.

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A/N: So someone hates me right now… and I'm in midterm/paper season so I don't know when I'll be able to update (insert evil laugh here). I feel very sadistic right now, but hey I have to draw it out somehow… Promise to update when possible.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

A/N: Have no idea where this is going to go… I had ideas but didn't like them so now this story is writing itself, but I think the best stories come about like that. Thanks to everyone for reviewing, I thought it was funny that even in other stories people made requests for this one, thanks

Disclaimer: If I owned it I would not be writing late papers for school… late penalties suck.

:-:-:-:

Dinner had been enjoyable, for normal people. However, Naru is not a normal person and had found it to be boisterous, flamboyant, vociferous, rowdy, riotous, shrill, noisy, and not to mention loud. He really did have a headache and tried to leave as quietly and painlessly as possible while still being polite, family dinners were torture for him no matter who the family was.

Finally leaving the table, Naru was able to make his way into the hallway only to watch Mai run past him. Naru's instinct kicked in and he ran after the girl only to watch as she stopped right before she reached the front door in a faint. Luckily Naru was already running for her so he was able to catch her before her head hit the ground.

"Lin! Come here." Naru yelled for the Chinese man.

Lin, however, was not the only one who rushed into the hall at Naru's call. John, Akayo, Houshou, and the entire Daichi family came into the hallway to see Naru holding Mai in an awkward position once again. Akito gave her husband a glance that Naru caught, he really did not want to have to deal with nosey match-making housewives, but it seemed as though he did not have much of a choice at the moment seeing as how he had just accepted the case without putting much thought into it. '_This is all Mai's fault_.' He thought to himself as he tried to get her up with Lin's help.

Depositing Mai back onto the couch that she had been on earlier, Naru stayed in the base with Lin while everyone else went to get set-up for the night. Naru and Lin were researching the background of the neighborhood through the internet while watching the screens at the same time. At 3am, Naru noticed that Mai's sleep had become rather troubled which concerned him. He went to wake her, but stopped short when he noticed that she was shivering and he could see her breath. He looked for his own breath, but he felt warm even though Mai looked as though she was in a freezer.

"Lin" He called.

"What kind of ghost do you think could do this?" Naru asked his mentor.

"A powerful one. It was able to keep us from noticing for this long… it wouldn't surprise me if the ghost has been with her since she fainted. We should find out what is going on, I would suggest getting Hara-san out here." Lin said in a serious tone, though he tends to stick with the serious tone for most things this time it was a bit more serious.

Naru nodded, he had not told Lin that Masako had not been called since she had annoyed Naru past the point of being able to keep his mask around her and he really did not like her. Thus, in order to keep himself a bit safer he had avoided her, and now he was going to be asking her for help in saving her rival… There was no way this could end well. Naru went and woke the others, getting Ayako to stay with Mai. Houshou and John went to get Masako, they would arrive at her house in the morning and she would jump at the chance to go with them if it meant seeing Naru. He really thought she was annoying.

Naru himself stayed in the base with Mai, Ayako, and Lin. He was sitting at the computer searching for an answer, hoping that he would be able to call the two back and avoid Masako. By the time the sun had risen, Ayako had fallen asleep holding Mai's hand with a charm. As Naru watched the sun rise he fell asleep himself. He knew he was dreaming, and did not want to have a perverted dream of Mai while she was in such a state, but he was so tired.

Entering into his dream, he got out of his chair and walked to Mai to watch her sleeping. Ayako and Lin were no longer there, it was just Naru and Mai. He sat beside her on the couch and cradled her head in his lap while tracing the outlines of her face while she slept. Her breathing was evening out and he could feel her skin warming against his own. The sweetness that she seemed to be made of calmed him as he continued to caress her face.

Naru was woken by Lin shaking his shoulder and letting him know that Houshou had called, the three would be arriving within the hour. Naru nodded and then started thinking about his dream. It confused him, if it had just been about making Mai his and taking her he could have simply attributed it to hormones, but instead he had treated her tenderly and with gentleness without any form of sex entering into the equation. Naru was very confused.

:-:-:-:

_'Where am I?' Mai thought to herself as she looked around._

_'Oh, that's right, I am sleeping on the couch… but didn't something happen…'_

_"I will not let you take her from me!" Mai heard a man's voice say emphatically_

_"She is not your daughter!" A woman replied._

_Mai then watched as the two materialized before her, the man was the same that she had seen in her dreams before, who had lost his wife and daughter in the fire. The woman was the one she had seen at the top of the stairs. She remained quiet so as to see what was going on, unfortunately both of them looked right at her. They ran for her and she tried to run away, but was pulled back. The man was pulling her towards himself while the woman was trying to come between them so that Mai would be released. Mai just fought to be let go of, she wanted to wake up now._

_"Please let go of me!" Mai pleaded with the man._

_"No! I'll never let you go, so that you will never be hurt again." He replied._

_"It's not much use arguing with him." The woman said as she dodged an elbow and pulled a hand off Mai. "He has been like this for so many years that I've lost count."_

_Mai looked up as the woman finally got the last of his hands off Mai. _

_"Hurry and wake up and leave this place." The woman said as she pushed Mai away from them._

_Mai could feel herself being pulled back to her body and start to wake-up. Just before she returned to consciousness she saw her dream Naru looking at her with __a gaze of __disappointment on his face. It hurt her to realize that he was disappointed in her and the fact she had not left yet__, she knew that she would be willing to do anything to get rid of that look._

:-:-:-:

Opening her eyes, Mai saw that it was light and she knew that she fell asleep when it was dark. She groaned at the thought of Naru teasing her for missing a day because she slept through it. Upon hearing her groan Naru, Ayako, and Lin all ran to her couch.

"Are you ok?" Ayako asked with worry in her voice.

"Yeah, but I have a splitting headache and why am I freezing?" Mai replied.

"A ghost attacked you last night and it stayed with you until just recently so that is why you are cold still, probably also why you have a headache." Naru said in his monotone voice.

"At least you're ok." Lin said with a glare at Naru.

"Mm, thank you for looking after me." Mai said as she looked at the number of blankets she had piled on top of her, as well as the charm Ayako had placed on her.

"Did you dream?" Naru asked, getting strait to business.

"Yes, I did." Mai said as she then related the story of the fight between the two ghosts and the woman's warning to her.

"Masako will be here soon so I want you and Rin to leave, since you both look like the daughter. Masako can help us figure out the rest." Naru said.

"Whatever"

Houshou, John and Masako entered the room after the word had died in the air while Mai was glaring at Naru.

"I'll let you know some of what I do know though," Naru continued much to Mai's surprise that he did not do so in a condescending manner. "About eighty years ago there was a family living here, a family of three with a daughter of about fourteen. When they had lived here for about a year there was a fire, the father and daughter lived but the mother died while saving her daughter form a falling beam. According to the records I found the daughter had stated that a ghost was trying to kill her and her mother had saved her from it. That coupled with your earlier dream I would say that the father probably died not long after losing his family and has been here ever since trying to find them again. Though why he is only focusing on girls that look like his daughter and not also women who look like his wife I don't understand…" Here Naru trailed off.

"The fountain…" Mai started and then stopped, causing everyone to look at her and Houshou asked her to continue.

"Oh, it's just that I thought the woman in the fountain and the ghost I saw looked very similar…"

"That fountain was contracted by the daughter as a memorial for her mother." Naru supplied.

"Hara-san, do you feel anything?" Naru then turned the conversation to the medium.

"I feel two powerful spirits in opposition to one another. One is a woman and the other a man, both have a strong desire to protect but the man's desire is more possessive while the woman's is one that lets go… that is the best explanation that I can give at the moment." Masako replied

"Hn, Matsuzaki-san please take Mai and Rin to the SPR office while we perform an exorcism. I think that Hara-san would probably be suitable for this." Naru commanded to which Masako and Ayako nodded.

John left to find Rin while Mai and Ayako got ready to leave and Masako prepared. Once Rin came in with John, the three women left.

:-:-:-:

A/N: Wasn't planning on putting in the last section but ended up doing it anyways. Have no clue when I'll be able to update, but will do so when possible. Loved messing with Naru's head in this one. Thanks for reviews and remember that they encourage me to write, smiles.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

A/N: You'll have to forgive me for taking so long on this, my life killed my muse and I finally revived it, yay.

:-:-:-:

Naru was wondering what exactly was taking Masako so long; it had been almost an hour. She was a professional, or at least called herself one, and he wanted to get back to SPR. His latest 'dream' had thrown him for a loop and he did not want to stay on the case any longer.

While Naru pondered what he was going to do to get his sanity back once the case was over, everyone else still at the house had congregated in the base with him.

"Wonder how much longer she's gonna be…" Bou-san said, stating what everyone was thinking.

"Well, she is supposed to be good." Akito replied.

"She is," Lin affirmed, "unlike some…"

Everyone in the room looked at him in some shook for his unusual use of sarcasm.

"Wow" Bou-san said, "I wish Ayako-san was here to hear that." Akito hit him in response.

While Takigawa rubbed his latest injury, the phone rang. Everyone just looked at the noise maker for a moment before Daichi answered it. After greeting and listening for a moment he handed it to Naru, who also listened for a moment before hanging it up.

"Lin, check on Hara-san." He commanded once the phone was safely back on the cradle.

As Lin opened the door Masako ran in crying. Of course being the annoyance to Naru that her existence demands, she ran straight to him. He simply looked at her, waiting for her to calm down enough so that he could find out why she had ran back to the base crying.

"I don't know what to do—wah—What should I do? Hic. Mai… Mai… Mai…" She started once she was able to get out some form of coherent thought.

"What about Mai?" Naru asked, becoming both impatient and annoyed.

"She was fighting him and Mai showed up-"

"Mai was here?" Takigawa asked with some puzzlement in his voice.

Masako nodded before continuing, "He tried to grab Mai, but the woman was fighting him while Mai was running and they ran out of the room and I don't know what to do, what if he catches Mai?"

Naru did not want to think of what would happen if the homicidal ghost did catch Mai since it appeared that she was not in her body. Ayako had been the one to phone with news that Mai was not waking 

from her nap in the car and the doctors had been running in and out of her room for the last while so Ayako was worried. Naru was worried now too.

He looked at Masako and motioned for her and Bou-san to follow him while he ran out of the room. He had no clue where Mai would run if she was trying to get away from a ghost while astrally projecting and in a strange house. He took a guess and ran outside. Once in the gravel drive for the house Masako stopped starring at the fountain that dominated the center of the garden in the middle of the circular drive.

"M-M-Mai!" She yelled while Naru and Bou-san both ran towards her looking in the direction she was trying to catch a glimpse of what she was seeing.

"Where is she?" Naru asked scanning the area.

"She's at the fountain still trying to get away from the man and the woman is still fighting him." Masako replied.

Takigawa started up his chant once Naru nodded at him, trying to get the ghosts away from Mai's spirit. Masako told him to stop after a moment, she realized that Mai and the woman were also being affected by the chant which was counter-productive. They continued to watch in apprehension while Masako described what was going on unseen in front of them.

"He hit her and now Mai is running around the fountain again… the woman is grabbing his ankle to keep him from Mai and he fell. Mai just kicked him while he was down, typical, he looks mad. The woman is still holding him down… he's looking this way; I don't like the look on his face. He disappeared; I think he went into the house. Naru this looks bad." Masako ended with that note, having no idea how bad things had gotten.

:-:-:-:

Mai was still running, she had no idea where the maniacal ghost had gotten to, but she wanted out of there, now. She was trying to wake-up from her nightmare, not knowing just how real it was. She had ran to the fountain, thinking that it would help the woman, only to have it fail fantastically on her. Now she wasn't in the house with the rest of SPR, but in the house as it had been when the man and his family lived there.

She ran through the rooms, looking for a way out. Whenever she saw a door that she thought led to the outside, she would open it only to find nothingness staring back at her. Mai was panicking (big surprise), and did not know how to wake up.

'Where is Naru?' She kept asking, he always saved her.

Passing another hallway, she stopped. Something was calling her from down at the end of the hall. She slowly started down the hall…

:-:-:-:



A/N: okay so that was a cliff… but I need some ideas for the next part so let me know in your reviews. Options are:

Dream Naru is down there

The 'Manic Ghost' is down there and can kill her somehow down there

The nice ghost is down there

So let me know what you want, smiles


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

A/N: Even though I was stuck (and sorry for the short chapter last time), when the muse came back to life she had a lot of energy, wouldn't even let me sleep till I got this out. Loves goes to Ariana Taniyama, her comment gave me the inspiration for this chapter. Also, thank you to all the reviewers and votes.

Warning: slight spoilers

:-:-:-:

Slight recap: With Naru

"Naru this looks bad." Masako ended with that note, having no idea how bad things had gotten.

With Mai

'Where is Naru?' Mai kept asking, he always saved her.

Passing another hallway, she stopped. Something was calling her from down at the end of the hall. She slowly started down the hall…

:-:-:-:

Once again, Naru was faced with trying to figure out how to save one of his coworkers. His mind would not allow him to consider them friends, even though most would have thought that within moments of meeting the group. He was racking his brain for what to do. Thinking about it made his head hurt, and his heart even though he tried to ignore it. Finally a plan began to form in his mind.

"Bou-san, call Matsuzaki-san and find out where Mai fell asleep. Hara-san, see if you can find Mai and if you can find out where she fell asleep. John, go with her and see if you can help." Naru barked out his orders as usual without explaining himself. Though, the people did as asked, as they knew from experience that his plans usually worked.

Naru returned to the base with Lin so that they could look up references on their computers to see what had been encountered before. It took a few minutes, but then Lin saw what Naru had planned. A few minutes later and Bou-san ran into the base.

"I just got off with Ayako, and she said that Mai was asleep before they left the drive." Bou-san explained.

"Good, have her bring Mai back to the house then." Naru commanded.

"Would you mind enlightening the rest of us to your brilliant plan?"

"If Mai's body is back in the same place as when she fell asleep she might be able to return to it easier. Even if Matsuzaki-san did not know, having Mai's body in the same place as her consciousness may help her wake-up and save her from whatever is chasing her." Naru told the monk impatiently.



"Ah, I'll go make that call."

:-:-:-:

_Mai felt like she had been running down the hall forever. Finally she could see what it was ahead of her, Naru was there._

"_Mai, don't come here." He said to her._

_It was too late. She had been running fast so that the momentum of her body went right through the archway leading to Naru. She felt herself falling into blackness. She opened her mouth to scream._

:-:-:-:

Ayako pulled up in the blue compact car she had left in. Naru, along with the rest of the house, crowded around to see Mai. Ayako had left Rin back at the hospital, since she had thought that bringing another girl to be targeted would not be a good idea.

"Is she still breathing?" Was Naru's greeting to the miko.

"Yes, her breathing and heart rate are normal." Ayako curtly replied.

"Why were you at a hospital when I told you to go back to the office?" Naru questioned as they gently removed Mai from the car.

"We realized that Mai wasn't waking-up about an hour from here. There was a hospital close to us so we went there as it was close and she could receive medical attention." Ayako reasoned.

Naru's reply was a grunt. Mai was placed on the couch in the base room once again after the exchange.

:-:-:-:

_Mai opened her eyes to see sunshine. As she took in her surroundings she saw a room that was painted white, with vines of roses painted across the walls. The dresser with mirror, vanity, and the canopy bed she was laying on all had the same theme._

_She stretched, looking down she could see she was wearing an old style western dress. For some reason she felt as though she needed to do something, but could not think of what it was. As she sat up, the door opened._

"_Mari, I'm happy to see you're up. After that fall I was worried about you. You know you really shouldn't worry your Papa like that, you'll send me to an early grave." The man said as he crossed the room to sit beside her on the bed. The word 'grave' seemed odd to Mai, but she ignored the feeling._

"_I'm okay Papa." She replied, easily falling into the role of a daughter._

"_Well you need to be more careful. Today is your birthday and I wanted for you to have a grand one at that, so…" He got up and retrieved a box from the hall, "Happy Birthday!"_

_Inside was a beautiful dress of white, with matching slippers. Mai gasped and clapped her hands in glee.  
"Thank you Papa!"_

_Mai went to put the dress on and went down the stairs, following her 'Papa'. Once they were down the stairs he hugged her and showed her a cake._

"_Remember to never leave me Mari. I will always protect you. Always." He whispered in her ear._

"_I know Papa." She replied._

"_Say you'll never leave me."_

:-:-:-:

Naru was watching Ayako as she monitored Mai. The girl really was throwing him for a loop, and he did not know how he was going to survive it. At first he thought that the dreams were simply caused by hormones, but now he knew better than to think that. If hormones were the only cause than the last dream would have been more… sexy. Now Naru had to come to grips with his feelings. Did he like Mai? As he mind reasoned that he then thought of, what is love? How could he know if he loved or even liked someone if he did not have a proper definition of the term?

Well, he supposed that he could look at those he had said he loved and compare… He had told his brother, the thought brought a pain to his heart. Did love mean pain? Well Mai certainly fulfilled that aspect he thought remembering just some of the pain she had caused him, both physical and mental. But as he thought of his brother it also made him smile… So love brings happiness? Mai also fulfilled that. He then thought that this was a rather confusing emotion if it brought both pain and happiness.

Naru was broken out of his confusing musing by Ayako yelling for someone to help her. Mai was not breathing. Naru was beside Ayako in less than a second.

"Hasn't Hara-san found her yet?" He asked as Ayako worked on getting Mai to breathe.

"No, she and John are making rounds of the house, but no sign of any ghosts right now." Bou-san answered.

Naru wanted to sigh, or scream, he didn't know which. If anything happened to Mai he did not know how he would get past it, especially if he really did lo-like her. He watched Ayako work, then Ayako grew even more frantic.

"Her heart beat is becoming erratic. Naru we have to do something soon or she is going to die." Ayako said worriedly.

Naru watched for a moment. He started to feel a pull; it reminded him of his brother once again. Once he realized what it was telling him to do, he did not know if he should. One look at Mai's face turning blue changed his mind as he leaned over her still form. Ayako stopped, watching him, as were Lin and Bou-san. He closed the distanced between his warm lips and hers that were growing cold. He quietly 

kissed her in a slight touch of lips, allowing his warmth and life to flow into her as the room was stilled in awe.

:-:-:-:

_Mai looked at her 'Papa', processing the words. He wanted her to tell him she would never leave him. She wanted to say the words, but something inside her was screaming at her not to do it. She did not understand why it had felt like she missed the warmth of a father's hug while she remained in his arms. But that was not the problem. She did not know what the problem was; just that she should not tell him that._

"_Why would I have to say that Papa?" Mai asked in genuine confusion._

"_I just like to hear it." He answered._

"_Okay… I… will…" Mai felt herself start to remember something, it had a fire. She stopped talking as she continued to remember. This man was dead._

"_Papa, why did you die?"_

"_Just tell me you'll stay with me forever and I will tell you the whole story." He evaded her question._

_Mai continued to remember. She thought of a man with navy blue eyes, with the gentlest of smiles when he gave them. She thought of a small apartment, with only one room. It was lonely. If she stayed here, she would have her 'Papa'._

_She turned back to him, intent on saying what he asked._

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A/N: I was trying to find the perfect way to end this chapter and I found it. Yay me.I made up the stuff about Mai's body being closer would help her return, just thought I'd let you know. I know how I'm ending this fic, finally. So I know what's going to happen in the next chapter, but do you? Will Naru's 'kiss' really work? I'll let you know next time. smiles


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

A/N: Decided to not be mean anymore by making you wait even longer… It hasn't been a year yet either! Oh and this chapter is dedicated to all of you who have reviewed and especially to Ariana Taniyama for PMing me to keep going.

Disclaimer: If I owned I would not be in so much debt, and I would have had a lot more fun with the characters.

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_Mai was looking at her 'Papa', intent on saying the words that her instinct was screaming for her not to say. _

"_Papa, I will-" She felt the pull again. She once again saw blue eyes, and knew that if she completed the sentence she would never see those eyes again. She simply knew that she had to see those eyes and their owner once again, but she could not remember why._

_Mai blinked up at the man holding her. She saw that he had green eyes, but for some reason she wanted her father to have cinnamon brown eyes, just like her. She wanted to see her mother as well, and her father never held her like this. He held her high in the sky to make her feel like she was flying, never making her feel like he was tying her to the ground._

_Staring up at the man she then uttered the one thought going through her mind, "You are not my father."_

'_Papa' threw her away from himself as the house began to burn. Mai could feel anger radiating off him as she realized that she was in the 'normal dream' where her Dream Naru would show-up. But as she looked around she realized the man was lonely; and she thought of her own loneliness. She remembered the times she would cry with her mother after her father died and how barren the family gravestone looked now, since every time she cleaned it she was alone._

_Dream Naru appeared, "It's time to wake-up Mai." He said softly._

"_No." Mai replied._

"_I have to help him." She explained, and ran towards the man._

:-:-:-:

Naru was beginning to feel a little hopeless as he watched Mai turn slightly blue in the face. He would have turned his head from her, but he was intent on giving her his own breath and life force. He just did not know how much longer he could keep this up.

:-:-:-:

"_Oji-san! Oji-san!" Mai shouted into the flames of the burning building. They were crackling all around her as boards and beams fell._

"_Oji-san!" She has found him, in the basement. He was holding the dress for his daughter and was crying._

"_Oji-san! Why are you here?"_

"_This is where I took my own life, once I no longer had any reason to live."_

"_I know... It is hard to let go... but if we don't then we will just end-up hurting those we love the most. Mari is waiting for you. You need to go to her or she will be sad." _

_At Mai's words something seemed to click in the ghost's heart. The fire began to lessen as the ghost began to glow. Mai watched as he started to take on the form of light to go to heaven._

_As the ghost floated up, Dream Naru burst into the room and grabbed Mai's hand while covering her eyes._

"_I don't want you to go there too early." He whispered in her ear._

_Once the ghost was gone he released her, only to see that she was the colour of a tomato. The two smiled at each other as Mai felt herself being pulled back to her body._

:-:-:-:

Naru's breath was beginning to give out as he felt her start to draw in breath of her own. Drawing back from the girl, he waited as she regained consciousness.

Mai sputtered as she continued to breath, regaining consciousness slowly. Though the headache that felt like a couple of elephants has just finished a disco party in her head came immediately. Even though she felt like never waking-up again, she forced herself to open her eyes. Naru's face, blurry at first, came into view. Since Naru's chin was only inches from her own, Mai jolted upright into it.

"Owwww!" Mai said while rubbing her head. Naru was rubbing his own chin while Lin, Ayako, and Bou-san crowded around them to see if they were really alright.

Mai looked rather the worse for wear, but Naru thought she had a glow. Ayako was checking Mai's vitals while Bou-san and Lin were trying to get Naru to lie down.

"It looks like you pulled through." Ayako commented while glancing at Naru.

"I don't know why you are so worried." Mai said while trying to swat Ayako's hands away.

They continued the banter while Naru watched and Lin tried to get him to focus on a finger he was moving from side to side. Naru thought of the fact that he had just had his mouth on the cute little mouth across the room only moments ago. He gave a small smile at the thought of doing so again under different circumstances while she was awake. Shaking his head, he tried to stay alert to what was going on around him.

"Naru, focus." Lin was saying. "That was an amazingly brave and stupid thing you just did. Why did you hold the link for so long?" Naru felt like Lin's voice was growing faint. "Naru!" The others in the room were crowding around him to see what was happening.

"Naru!" He heard Mai's voice as all went black and he slipped into darkness.

:-:-:-:

A/N: Okay, so now I could show off just how Lin has to save our boy, or you could just watch the last episode of the anime since pretty much the same thing happened. So what will befall our hero and heroine next? ... I'll let you know when I do.

Oji-san=uncle


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

A/N: Just had to post this right away as it came rather quickly, yay. I did not think I would get a chance today, was supposed to be taking my father to surgery, but he had to cancel since he developed pneumonia... I hope it doesn't last.

Warnings: Contains explicit and graphic materials... Do not read if you cannot handle or are underage. Also has spoilers.

Disclaimer: If I owned I would not be pwned by the government.

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Recap: "Naru!" He heard Mai's voice as all went black and he slipped into darkness.

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The shadows began to recede as Naru felt himself come to some form of a dream state. He could remember Lin teaching him how to find the different states of consciousness during his training. Luckily he remembered most of it. He had to wonder just what kind of a dream his imagination would cook up this time.

It was no surprise when he saw Mai in his dream. Though why he saw her with his brother bothered him to no end. Was she dead? But he could remember her waking up. Watching Gene smile at her and for her to return it with such an amazing smile of her own made his heart ache in ways that he did not want to understand.

Suddenly he felt the scenery change. Looking around he could see Bou-san at one of his concerts. Naru could not help but to think that the man needed to learn how to grow up.

It changed again, and he saw Ayako in a doctor's white coat taking the pulse of a small girl. The girl looked like she was close to death and Ayako seemed to know this.

Naru knew what was happening then. It had only happened a few times in the past, but he was reading the people that were touching him while asleep. He simply wanted to sleep and recover from saving Mai. Focusing his energy, he built a wall between himself and the memories of others. Once it was done he allowed himself to dream.

:-:-:-:

He was back in the office. He was tired, and had decided to make himself some tea, when he heard a noise. Going to the centre of the office he saw Mai, fast asleep, lying on the couch.

'She should have left by now.' Was his first thought, followed by, 'Hasn't this happened before?'

He moved to stand in front of her and saw the blanket that had fallen off her. He bent down to pick it up, with the intention of returning it so that she would stay covered. As he bent, he came very close to her bare legs and could not help himself as he began to touch them.

He started at her ankles, running both hands up and down and around them. He felt them as though they were really there. Continuing up her legs, he rubbed her calves, she smiled. Her knees felt like heaven, and so he decided to taste them. The licking continued up to her thighs, she was moaning now.

Reaching the edge of her skirt, he paused and looked up to her astonished eyes. He then moved to her head, aiming for her lips. Once he caught her in a kiss, she simply moaned and whimpered, completely captured by his embrace.

Using one arm to brace himself, the other hand wandered her upper body. He kissed her, nipping at her lips and trying to gain access to the rest of her mouth. His hand found her breast, underneath her shirt and he commenced moving her bra so that he could fully appreciate her. Once he had discovered her nipple, he moved his mouth to fully uncover its delicacies.

As he sucked on her breast, his hands were working on ridding her of the annoyance called panties. His fingers were exploring her; she was panting and making varied noises. He could not wait much longer. He pulled his pants open and began to ride her; she was screaming and calling his name. He was coming inside her.

He knew that he wanted this to happen in real life. He knew that he loved her. He wanted to take care of her. He wanted to protect her. He needed her to be a part of his life forever. She annoyed him to no end, but he could not help except to want her to be his.

With this realization and declaration to himself, he allowed for a sleep without dreams. A real rest so that he could wake again soon and tell the girl to her face just what he thought of her and how he wanted to spend their time together.

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A/N: I feel very eloquent right now... I really like the thesaurus.

Omake: Lin and Bou-san were in the hospital room watching over Naru. Everyone else had left as they were taking turns with watching over the boy. Mai was in a room down the hall and they had kicked her out after she almost fell over again.

"Lin-san... What do you think he is dreaming of to have that...." Bou-san trailed off and indicated the tent that was being supported under Naru's hospital blanket.

"I don't know, nor do I want to."

"... Well at least we know he is still a virgin..."

"... Could we change the topic."

"That size is rather impressive considering his age."

"... You do realize that if you mention this to anyone he will make your life a living hell."

"... Those flowers Masako brought are rather pretty."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

A/N: Had a dead day at work, so worked on this... I kinda reference another one of my fics in this chapter... so check it out if you want.

Disclaimer: Don't own... Do have several thousand dollars of debt... That's all you get if you sue me since I won't give you my cactus.

Warning: Shounen-ai references, if you don't like don't read... I tried to keep the chapter from being too essential to the story.

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Naru woke from his dark sleep abruptly to the sound of crashing and bodies falling. Opening his eyes made him want to go comatose again. Bou-san seemed to have tripped and fallen... right on top of Yasuhara, who appeared to mind the position as much as Naru had minded Mai falling on him.

There was harsh whispering between the two, who did not realize their audience was awake. Naru cleared his throat to get their attention, since they looked about to kiss. Apparently they were hard of hearing.

As the two on the floor began to touch lips Naru was deciding between passing out or yelling. Luckily, the door opened, which caused the two on the floor to break away and kept Naru from choosing the least unNaru like option.

Lin walked in, to a rather interesting display on the floor of a blushing Bou-san and smirking Yasuhara. The man instead ignored the two and went to the awake Naru.

"When did you wake up?" The man of few words asked.

"When Bou-san and Yasuhara decided the floor was comfortable." Naru replied with a glare. Bou-san became even redder, while Yasuhara turned a little pink.

"How are you feeling?" Lin continued.

"Other then wanting to burn my eyes out? Fine." Naru said flatly.

Lin looked from Naru to the other two occupants of the room with a look of amusement.

"What has happened with Mai?" Naru asked, desperately trying not to think of the scene he had witnessed. Though now the dreams began to come back to him and made him wonder which would be easier to deal with.

"She is in another room, since the doctors wanted to keep her for observation. They plan on releasing her tomorrow." Bou-san said. His face was almost back to its original colour.

"We had quite the time getting her to stay in her _own_ room." Yasuhara said with a smirk.

"How long have I been out?" Naru asked, completely ignoring Yasuhara.

"About three days. Much longer and I would have done something." Lin answered.

Naru nodded in response.

"Is the laptop here?" Naru continued.

"No, but I have some of the files." Lin replied.

Yasuhara and Bou-san looked at each other and knew where this was going. It would be the boring overview between Naru and Lin, which they could get later.

"Are we going to do par normal and have a final meeting with the people involved in the case, to go over the report?" Lin asked Naru, already knowing the answer. Yasuhara and Bou-san left saying something about Mai's room being more fun now that Naru was awake.

Naru glared at the departing figures while answering Lin with a simple, "Yes."

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A/N: So the story I referred to was 'Not just joking', check it out if you liked the chapter. And please review, that is the only way I keep going.

Omake One: "How long have I been out?" Naru asked.

"About three days. Much longer and I would have done something, like call your mother." Lin answered while Naru paled and hid under his sheet.

Omake Two: "About three days. Much longer and I would have done something along the lines of what you did to Mai." Lin answered.

Naru turned green and looked about to vomit.

:-:-:

You can just imagine which one Lin wanted to say.


End file.
